How to Build a NUC

How to build Intel’s Next Unit of Computing (NUC)

This month’s Build It is a bit of a reach for us here at Maximum PC, simply because we’re used to building PCs that are powerful enough to require an intervention from the local overclocking support group. However, we can’t ignore the rise of the small PC, or the living room PC, or whatever you want to call these Lilliputian rigs that are suddenly as popular as raging against the OS hate crime named Windows 8. This little machine in particular, the Intel NUC, which stands for Next Unit of Computing, seemingly came about as a reaction to the surprisingly popular Raspberry Pi, which is a tiny bare-bones PC that originated in the UK early last year and sells for just $25. Though the Raspberry Pi was designed to be an affordable gateway drug into the world of command-line hacking, the Intel NUC is a much more complete solution that Intel says is perfect for home entertainment, commercial kiosks, or just quiet, affordable computing. Since the NUC (pronounced Nuck, though we like to call it the Nuke) doesn’t include all the bits that you need to make it run, we figured it was a prime candidate for a Build It article.

Nuctural Selection

The first stage of NUC acquisition involves deciding which NUC to purchase—there are two different SKUs available as of press time. Both have the same basic specs for storage, RAM, and wireless, in that they have none, so you’ll have to BYO. They both feature the same 1.8GHz Core i3-3217U Ivy Bridge dual-core Hyper-Threaded CPU soldered to the motherboard, which won’t accept a skyscraper heatsink for overclocking, sadly; and both also have three USB 2.0 ports. They then diverge, with one featuring dual HDMI ports for multi-display action, Wi-Fi, and Gigabit Ethernet, and the other sporting one HDMI port, Wi-Fi, and a Thunderbolt port. The dual-HDMI unit features an all-black chassis and will set you back $290, while the T-bolt version goes for $310 and sports a Corvette-like cherry-red roof. There are also two more NUCs coming soon: a high-end NUC with a Core i5 processor and USB 3.0, and a low-end NUC with a Celeron/Atom processor. For this build, we chose the dual-HDMI NUC (model DC32171YE) because we wanted to use it as a quiet, out-of-the-way PC instead of a typical streaming-media-center box. Its core components include two SO-DIMM slots, an mSATA slot for an SSD, a wireless PCI Express port, three USB 2.0 ports, Gigabit Ethernet, and two HDMI ports. Audio is provided by the HDMI or Thunderbolt ports, but you can't connect your speakers to the NUC. There’s also a power brick (but oddly no cable that plugs into the wall) and a VESA mounting bracket included. The NUC includes a 3-year warranty and a box that plays the Intel commercial jingle when you open it.

1. Open the Case

In order to gain access to the NUC’s innards, you’ll need to remove the bottom panel from the device, which thankfully is quite easy. Since Intel figures you probably won’t be popping open the chassis very often to swap out parts, it’s gone ahead and secured it with four easy-to-remove Phillips head screws (image A). The screws are all captured, too, so you don’t have to worry about losing them once you pop off the NUC's ventilated door. With the door removed, we see there’s also a way to remove the motherboard from the chassis by removing three more small screws. Though putting a door on the little bugger isn’t a big deal, it’s appreciated since Intel could have theoretically made the NUC a closed system in an attempt to reduce support calls.

2. Let’s Have a Look Around

With its dome removed we can finally have a look around the NUC to see where everything goes. As you can probably tell, this is the belly of the little beast, or the underside of the mainboard (image B), as the Core i3 processor and heatsink/fan assembly are on the other side of the board where active cooling is required to keep things chilly. Down here in passive-cooling land we have a half-length mini PCI Express slot for the wireless card, the full-length mini PCI Express slot for the mSATA drive, two SO-DIMM RAM slots, and one empty header labeled Front Panel. You can’t see them but there are Wi-Fi antennae encircling the enclosure; you can see where they attach to the Wireless card. The tiny little mobo rests inside what looks like a crude metal soap dish, though the Intel Desktop Board logo is proudly displayed. We have heard that despite Intel’s plans to get out of the motherboard game after Haswell, it does have a roadmap for the NUC, so plan on seeing several more iterations of this bambino rig in the months to come.

Click the next page to learn how to install the RAM, the OS, and more.

Comments

upto I saw the check of $8532, I did not believe that...my... brothers friend woz like they say truly taking home money part-time on there computar.. there sisters neighbour has been doing this 4 only eighteen months and by now took care of the morgage on their house and got a great volvo. I went here, > ---- WEP6.COM

Far from it. The only similarity is the small form factor, which the NUC wins by a few square inches. The least expensive Mac Mini is the dual-core i5, which definitely beats the current NUC's i3 by 50%. That is the one edge the Mini has (granted, it would be significant to me if I had to choose one or the other for my own workstation). If you were to custom order the $599 Mac Mini from Apple's website with 16GB of RAM, you are already looking at $899, compared to the fully spec'd NUC at $809. The NUC also has a great SSD, while the Mini still has a 5400 RPM drive. In processor-intense tasks, the mini will win, but day-to-day activities, the NUC will be more responsive and appear faster than most computers with a mechanical hard drive.
If we re-do the NUC, with less maximum parts, you're looking at $385 for 4GB of RAM, same as the Mini, and a smaller SSD. You can add the Windows 7 license if you want, but you're still ahead of the game. For small form factor desktops, I would say the NUC wins. Not to mention the built-in 3 year warranty, compared to the Mini's 1 year. The price difference may end up being small, under $100, but when you are stocking offices, kiosks, or classrooms with these, the savings add up.
Let's also not forget the attention to detail Intel put into the packaging. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=TKsYyXa_03o&t=421
If processing power matters to someone, they won't bother with a the small form factor at all.
Pardon the long post, but after working in Apple stores for a couple years, and doing computer consulting now, I always feel the need to clarify specs and exaggerations that my clients may come across. Hope this cleared things up.

The HDD in the Mini takes a bit of know-how to replace; not what the average consumer would go through so the NUC definitely wins there. (That's why I said "most" specs.).

Nobody who even has an elementary understanding of computers would custom-order more RAM from Apple though. It takes less than a minute to replace by anyone. ...not an argument; just clarification because my original post was a bit too simplistic.

Thanks for the clarification. My thought was incomplete as well. I would also hope that most people who know about computers do the RAM themselves as well (although I didn't practice that when I sold them on commission). In my original train of thought, I was also going to mention that even if you did it yourself, it's an added cost of $120-$150, so comparing this maxed-out NUC to the $599 Mini wasn't a fair comparison.

Additionally, as far as I'm concerned, the only spec the Mini has over the NUC is the CPU. This is why I disagreed with your "most" specs comment.

Thanks for being so civil, Engelsstaub. I'm familiar with your frequent comments on other articles, and appreciate your lack of "Trolling".